Most Popular Twitter Pitch Parties for Writers

Getting published is hard. Finding an agent to take your writing to the next level can be even harder! That’s why other writers have created Twitter Pitch Parties. They’re a chance for agents to hear about your story, and if you’re lucky, they’ll sign you as one of their clients.

What exactly is a Twitter Pitch Party?

Each pitch party has slightly different rules that I’ll explain below, but the objective for each is the same – to help you find a literary agent using a finished and polished manuscript as your bait. Literary agents are essential since there are some publishing houses that will only look at your manuscript if it’s submitted through an agent. Let’s just say agents are kind of important in the traditional publishing world.

Most pitch parties have you sum up your book in 140 characters* or less, including the pitch party’s hashtag (which allows agents to see your tweet). Usually, the parties happen on specific days of the year, during specific hours in the day.

*Please note: because of the twitter character limit increase. Many pitch parties have increased their allowed character counts. Read rules carefully before participating.

What does it mean if an agent “hearts” your pitch?

If an agent likes (or “hearts”) your tweet, you have a free pass to send them your manuscript. That does not mean that they will automatically offer you representation, but if they like what they read, they may offer for you to be one of their clients – putting you one step closer to your dream.

Most Popular Twitter Pitch Parties

#PitMad is for all writers of all genres. With PitMad you create a 280 character tweet, but it must include the hashtag #PitMad AND a genre hashtag, such as #YA for young adult. The PitMad website has thorough instructions and lists all necessary hashtags there. Click here to go to http://pitchwars.org/pitmad/

#DVPit is a pitch party ONLY for diverse authors. They describe diverse authors as:

“Native peoples and people of color; people living and/or born/raised in underrepresented cultures and countries; disabled persons (including neurodiverse); people living with illness; people on marginalized ends of the socioeconomic, cultural and/or religious spectrum; people identifying within LGBTQIA+; and more. Any decisions regarding eligibility are yours to make. Authors are not obligated to disclose anything they do not feel comfortable with and are not required to pitch only #ownvoices work, though that is certainly welcome!”

As with the other pitch parties, you need to include #DVPit in your pitch and pay close attention to other dates and rules found on their website: http://www.dvpit.com/about

Pitch Parties for Individual Genres

There are also a handful of twitter pitch parties for specific genres.

#SFFPit is for Science Fiction and Fantasy Books only. Yes, you get to try and sum up your massive, intricate world in a single tweet. Good luck! More info here: http://dankoboldt.com/sffpit/

#PitDark is for authors who write darker themes. This pitch party is not limited to just horror though – dark fantasies, murder mysteries and more are included. More info here: http://jasonhuebinger.com/pitdark/

#SonofaPitch (also know as #SOAP18)is a little different than some other pitch parties because it allows you to tweet a pitch every hour, where most pitch parties only allow you to send out two tweet pitches a day, per manuscript. There is also a three week build up to this twitter pitch party, where you can get feedback and possibly even have editors and agents requesting your stuff. This is currently only open to YA, New Adult, and Adult novels right now. She is considering including Middle Grade in 2018. You can learn more about this unique pitch party in a podcast here . You can also there more here (these are last years dates, link will be updated once she has posted this year’s information): http://kjhstories.blogspot.com/2017/01/say-what-son-of-pitch-is-back.html

If you’ve never participated in a pitch party, I recommend you do. While the majority of people who participate do not get a heart from an agent, some lucky ones do. It could be you! I was lucky enough to get a heart my first-time pitching. The agent wasn’t the best fit, so nothing came of it, but it was exciting and good experience submitting to her.